Boyd-Lawrence County KyArchives Biographies.....Moore, Laban T. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 7, 2008, 1:56 am Author: William Ely (1887) COLONEL L. T. MOORE. WHILE not the oldest of the family, is, in consequence of his great ability as a leading lawyer, not only in the valley but in the State, and being a public man of high repute, nominally, at least, the leader of the family of Moores in the valley. He was educated at Marietta College, and became a lawyer, opening an office at Louisa when admitted to the bar, soon after he had reached his majority. About this time he married a daughter of Colonel John Everett, of Guyandotte, Va., a lady of rare beauty of person and accomplishments of mind. He took high rank as a lawyer from the start, and gained in popularity with the people, owing to his fervid eloquence and warm friendships. His friends at Louisa urged him to make a race for the Legislature on the Whig ticket. He consented, on condition that his chief issue should be, if elected, to urge the passage of an act establishing normal schools in the State to train young men and women for teachers. One St. Clair Roberts, a man of great popularity at the time, possessing an implacable will, yet destitute of the common rudiments of an education, was nominated by his party to run against Moore. Fortified by his own ignorance, he appealed to the people not to squander their taxes on such nonsense, and defeated the man who was the people's real friend. In 1859 Mr. Moore was nominated by the Whig party of the Old Ninth District for a seat in Congress. He made a brilliant and successful race against William Moore, or Billy, as his friends called him, who was the nominee of the Democracy. Billy Moore was not only a man of talent, but was a wily politician, while Laban T. Moore was unknown to most of the people of the district except in his own county; yet before he had gotten half over the district, in a joint debate with his able competitor, he had convinced all who heard him that he was not only a young man of brilliant endowments, but was an orator of great ability. He was elected by two hundred and forty-six majority, and, soon after the result was known, his friends in Mason County donated the largest steer in their county to be barbacued in honor of the young mountaineer's election. The gathering took place at Catlettsburg, where people from all parts of the district attended. The great ox was roasted by John F. Faulkner, an old barbacuist, still living, as lively as ever. The dell where the monster meeting was held is still known as the Moore Barbacue-ground. The Congress in which he served was a stormy one, just on the eve of the Civil War; but he bore himself with manly fortitude against the shafts of hate from both sections, and, while a Southern man by instinct and in feeling, when the final hour came to break up the Union of the Fathers, he spoke out in thunder-tones against it, and declared himself a Union man. In the Spring of 1861 he came home and made speeches in advocacy of the old Government; and in the Fall of the same year, with William Vinson, L. J. Hampton, and others, was instrumental in getting into service the 14th Kentucky Regiment. He was its first colonel, but soon resigned, to make place for one he thought better qualified to lead the troops to victory. He was a Union man during the war, but freely criticised the methods of carrying on the war. He voted for McClellan in 1864. In 1863 he moved to Catlettsburg, where he now lives. He was elected to, and gerved one session in, the State Senate from his district, commencing in 1881. He was made chairman of a special committee to improve the school laws of the State. He did the work well, and ever since the free schools of the State have grown in favor with the people. He was pushed by his friends for a seat on the Appellate Bench. He was defeated for the nomination, yet his successful rival was defeated by a stiff majority in a district largely in his favor, politically. Colonel Moore has a large and profitable law practice, and does not care to turn aside to fill offices. He is one of Catlettsburg's most honored citizens. His family consists of himself, wife, and four daughters. His oldest daughter, a graduate of Vassar College, a young lady of superior talent, and entering upon literary pursuits, with the prospect of a long life of usefulness before her, was stricken down before her plans were fully carried out to use the talents and accomplishments she possessed to better the race of man. Her mantle has fallen on her sisters, who are doing much, by deeds of charity and kindness, to assist the young to get a moral and intellectual training to fit them for lives of virtue and usefulness. The young ladies are Christian workers, are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, but stop not within Church lines in their noble deeds of doing good to others. Colonel Moore, like his father before him and his brothers,' is an ardent Mason, and foremost in many good works. The oldest daughter, Sarah, married John Poage, an iron manufacturer, by whom she had one child, a daughter. She became the wife of H. C. Gartrell, who, dying, left her with several children. Mrs. Gartrell lives on her fine farm, called "Cliff Side," half-way between Ashland and Catlettsburg. Mrs. Poage married, for her second husband, Pleasant Savage, by whom she had four children, three sons and a daughter. Additional Comments: [Transcriber's note: This book covers several counties in KY and WV. It was published in Boyd County.] Extracted from: THE BIG SANDY VALLEY BY WILLIAM ELY CATLETTSBURG, KY.: Central Methodist, 1887 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/boyd/bios/moore465gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/